The winner is.....

Cynthia!!!
Check out her wonderful blog here, it is a daily read for me.
I am super excited to get to work on your mustard one, that is the color I have been most excited to use :) I'll get them done in the next day and send it out, if you can just send me your mailing address to littleflowerana[at]gmail dot com that would be great.

Thanks to everyone for the comment love, it's been so wonderful to get connected to so many wonderful mothers through blogging and I am glad to show my gratitude through some clip making.

I will post a little tutorial soon in case anyone feels so inclined to make yourself or your female offspring some hair flair.

Thanks again and happy Sunday!!!

$3 goodness

I was at Walmart last week shopping in their sewing section for some different fabrics for my clips when I spotted what I thought was the some positively fabulous fabric that I wanted most desperately but did not buy because the price tag was torn off. I pretty much couldn't stop thinking about this fabric and so I made up an excuse that made it so that I had to go back. I went straight to the craft section, and asked for the price on the fabric- $1.50 a yard!!! I quickly purchased a couple yards and had great plans to get home and use this tutorial posted my the lovely Grace. I know, I know, I am really overdoing it in the scarf department, but this one was going to be the BEST of all of them!
Here is the fabric- if you can't see how wonderful it is, just trust me.

Ready to sew...

But then my sewing machine broke. I thought all of my hopes and dreams for the fabric were shattered and I was seriously sad- like I almost cried I was so sad. I was not ready to face this reality so... I decided I would wear the fabric as a scarf without sewing it and no one would be the wiser, except my husband... and everyone reading this.
I had already cut the fabric into the long tube that would just need to be sewn together for the scarf, so instead of sewing it, I just used some safety pins, and voilà:

pretty pink scarf

 This is a DIY project that virtually anybody could do.
One day when I get my machine fixed I will actually sew it, but I don't need to wait until that day to drape myself in this luscious fabric, and I won't!

Stay tuned for the giveaway winner this evening!! (I wanted to give everybody a last minute chance.)
Happy Sunday!

Pajama Pant Scarf

I am not sure which one I am more obsessed with currently: hair clip making or scarf making...
I blame this one on Mike though because I was about to throw out this old pair of pajama pants yesterday (which, incidentally I had been wearing around with an enormous hole in the behind for who knows how long, embarrassing - pun by mike)

these were an old pair of Mike's pants that I shrunk in the wash and since I was worried about being too feminine, I decided these would work just great for me! (joking)

Anyways, I was about to throw them out and Mike said "why don't you make an infinity scarf out of them..." Wait, what? Did Mike just suggest that I make an infinity scarf out of an old pair of pants? I think I have dragged him a wee bit too far into this blog world or looked at pinterest around him too much. Either way, he was right, it was a great idea.
Although in the end I do think that it just looks like I have draped my neck in men's sleepwear. I have never owned a more comfortable scarf.

I just cut the legs off, trimmed and sewed up the sides to make the fabric more even, then sewed the 2 tubes together. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Because I am all too embarrassed of taking pictures of myself and the weird faces I make when doing so

I have just decided to cut off my face. 

 There you go.

And for those who like to see gratuitous pictures of my children:

I do not know nor to I care why the weather has been so glorious everywhere in January, I am just happy.

I will keep the giveaway open until Sunday, I am looking forward to crafting some cute clips for a lucky someone!

Piddly Giveaway

Intrigued, aren't you?
SO maybe it's peer pressure (no one is pressuring me) or maybe it is just me trying to be cool and boost my self esteem (likely) but I have decided to do a very little giveaway. I think I may become obsessed with making hair clips. I am working on mastering this one and have decided to let you reap the fruits of my hard, hard labor. You may be thinking "why would I want to go to all this trouble for something so small?" Well I will tell you. You won't be going to much trouble since all that you have to do is

1. Become a follower if you have not already
2. Leave a comment saying what size clip you'd like and fabric

And also, since very few people will be trying to win this little item, your chances of winning are really good! Win, win!
So here is the latest result of my efforts:

Mike says that he thinks it is "earthy cute", whatev

I have a couple different fabric patterns you can choose, and you can choose from a package of either 2 large clips (like the one in the picture) or 4 small clips, pick your poison.
The fabric choices are:

• the one in the picture
• pink and red hearts (in honor of Valentine's Day, this would be super cute in a smaller clip for little girls)
• Brown, like in my earlier post, with any number of colored buttons
• mustard with any color button you like, including the specialty button on the above clip.

Your wish is my command, I just want you to be happy. 

If you live in South Bend and you're a friend of mine, there's no need to try to win as I will probably make you one for your birthday or for Tuesday or whatever.
Good luck!

Some things I did today

Took down our Christmas decorations and deep cleaned our house, organized my mess of a closet, began compiling homeschooling materials to start doing with Naomi when she turns 3, hung beautiful picture frames on our walls in our new basement so that it is finally finished, by now you should have caught on that I am lying and did none of these things today...

But we did have a fun day. First we went to Starbucks and got some delicious donuts and coffee, it really set the stage for our Saturday excursion. Then we went to the library where we got a plethora of books on tape and listened to a bit of a beautiful live concert going on in the library lobby- random. Then we snatched up a pass from the library for the History museum, our new favorite place (lest you be duped into thinking we are actually cultured or educated, there is a phenomenal kids play place in the basement of the museum, hence our frequent trips). It is the best:

there is a canoe

and a stable with hay and rocking horses

And an entire mini pioneer village with a little house, a one room school, a post office, a blacksmith, and a store... oh and a covered wagon... and fake hills with a little lake where they can fish for magnetized fish and cook them over a fake fire and there's a tepee. And you get in free with a library card. free. Yet ANOTHER reason you should all move to, or at least visit, SB. Moms and dads can just sit on the benches right there in the middle and let their children run wild and do anything (anything but take the hay out of the stable, you MAY NOT take the hay out of the stable- they are serious about this.) So I sat and drank my starbucks and ate a donut- bliss. We made it home in one piece with only one major tantrum throwing event from the Nomes on our way out but luckily the staff lady came to the rescue with a snowflake made out of q-tips and everyone was happy.

While the wee ones napped I busied myself finishing up altering another pair of old college jeans from Gabriel Brothers, if you've never been to one you have not lived. They're flashy and they have diamonds on them, that's right diamonds:

yeeaahh

So here they were the other morning

fresh out of bed with pajama shirt and bed hair

and now they are better, not great, but better

dressed in every day clothes

dressed in something I would never actually wear

While I was sewing these Naomi made her first honest to goodness pun. She looked at me and said "you're sewing jeans. mommy, you're a jean-ious" then burst out laughing, it was awesome. 

Alrighty, and lastly (you did not think you were in for such a looong mother of a post, I am killing like 5 birds with one stone)... we had some fantastic friends over last night and my dear friend Megan was donning what was, in my opinion, the cutest little handmade hair clip I had ever seen. And since my hair is at a super awkward stage where it doesn't fit into a normal looking pony tail and if I don't flat iron it I look like a grungy teenage boy, I have been wanting some cute hair accessories. Every time I go to the store I stand in the isle with the hair clips for at least 5 minutes and pick out a few cute clips and then put them all back because they are so darn expensive. Anyways, I tried my hand at this little fabric number and came up with this.

It is not that great good, but I am going to work on it, like maybe by purchasing some cute colorful fabric and using that instead of this brown on brown combo. Megan's was waaay better, but it is something and it works.

To those of you that stuck out this, I commend you. Good night and God speed.
Ana

I'll pop your balloon and cowl addendum

Every day I scheme about different things I can do/not do/offer/take away/threaten/etc... in order to get my first born to get into her bed for her regularly scheduled 20 minute afternoon power nap and as of late I have been feeling like a worse and worse mother.
It has gone from me telling her to do it and her obeying out of shear respect for my authority and love for her dear mother (I tell myself that that was how it once was) to me on my knees begging her to go without me having to pick up her solid 40 lbs of dead screaming, kicking weight and put her into her bed. I have offered anything from videos and fruit snacks to trips to the mall play place immediately following her nap (and actually following through on it, pathetic). Then if all offerings do nothing I move on to empty threats, which I just pray I am not forced to have to follow through on because I probably won't.
But then today I discovered what may be the key to our discipline success.

"I will pop your balloon if--- (insert whatever)" and she will do/not do anything.
Cruel and unusual? Maybe, but I would invest in a helium tank if I knew this would continue to work like such a charm. Desperate times...

And yes, that does say "South Bend Chocolate Company" on the balloon, and yes, it is as wonderful as it sounds. You should come here and we'll go eat some chocolate together.

Here's the larger than life button that I added to the lazy little cowl I made:

Have a good one!

The cowardly cowl: for the non-knitter

made by sister

So, I really don't need another scarf. A little while ago I made this lemon buddy from a thrift store sweater, then my ever-so talented sister (who should totally start a blog showcasing her craftiness) crocheted a super cute cowl for me for Christmas, which I have been wearing all the time because I love it and it is so cute and warm.
BUT THEN.... a super duper talented friend of mine posted this on her blog and since I had been seeing some similar things on Pinterest, this one sold me. I felt I must have a cowl with a button. But the problem is I do. not. knit. and I have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth from trying to teach myself. I googled "fear of knitting" in the hopes of finding a good picture to capture how I feel about it, but all I could find was this,

I don't know what is going on but it creeps me out about as much as the idea of trying to teach myself how to knit again.

I was 9 months pregnant with Naomi and trying to convince myself that I was nesting (I have come to the conclusion that I do not, in fact, "nest") when I tried to teach myself to knit, but by the end I just wanted to stab something or someone with the needle. Anger was the only emotion evoked from the experience and I think maybe I need some counseling in order to go back to that place and try again.

Anywho, I love love love these cowls with buttons and I feel like those of us who refuse to can't knit should not be deprived of this cute accessory. 

So I stood in front of my closet for a while yesterday looking around for something that could transform into one and I discovered another thrift store sweater that I bought with the intention of wearing and then it turned out that it simply added about 61/2 lbs to my midsection that I did not need. 

So without further ado, here is the sweater that I sewed into a little button cowl, a cowl for cowards if you will. And if you won't, you should:

Motherhood maternity blue-not my favorite color, but it's better than nothing

If you can hand stitch or use a sewing machine you can do this quickly, I think it took my about 30 minutes.

first I cut off the hood

Then cut down the sides about as wide as I thought I would want it

I cut to about the middle of the sweater because there was a pocket, but you could cut further down if you want a more chunky look

give the leftovers to your child to drape over themselves

Then go ahead and flip in inside out, hem the bottom, then sew up the sides. Then place the button where you want it and sew it on.

nothing fancy and I plan to buy a cooler button next time I am out, but you get the picture

And on me

it works

full length, because you needed it

And that's that

Although a freshly knitted one would undoubtedly be cuter and more comfortable, I feel some odd sense of fulfillment now until I can overcome my knitting fears.

Hasta la vista, baby

Fun old DIY: Homemade felt food

This is a cute little DIY that I had a blast doing for Naomi's 2nd birthday last year and will be adding to with each birthday or Christmas.

Sweet treats

We reeaaalllyy like donuts and really anything sweet

Beef stew-with obligatory vegetables- and a sandwich

More obligatory vegis in reused bags from last week's groceries

I am thinking about doing a little giveaway someday so you better become a follower now to get in on it! I am sure you are jumping out of your pants with excitement, just stay calm, it might not even happen, or maybe it will.... don't stop thinking about it.

It was a lot of fun doing these and I got a little bit better at it as I went on since I didn't use any patterns. The only problem is that it was ALL I thought about for about a month, every time I saw any food, at all, I would think about how I could make it into felt food. What can I say? This is the life.